Clarke Central High School junior Troy Deslatte laughs with senior Luis Vicente as they practice lines for the upcoming school production. Deslatte has always envisioned himself as an actor and enjoys playing different roles. âIâve kinda always wanted to do that since I was like a little, little kid,â Deslatte said. âI just always liked pretending to be someone else, which is what acting is.â Photo by Julie Alpaugh.
By SARA GOODIE – Iliad Literary Art Magazine Editor-in-Chief
Junior Troy Deslatte has dwarfism, but he refuses to let his condition limit him.
At 4â6â, junior Troy Deslatte is shorter than most students his age. But in terms of personality, he has always been larger than life.
âWhenever someoneâs counting the number of students and they go, like, â28 students,â I go, âNo, 27 and a half,â and then everyone laughs,â Deslatte said. âI think it also kind of shows people that Iâm open about this and itâs OK to make jokes about it.â
But despite being open about his dwarfism, Deslatte says that other than his mom Angela Powell, who also has his condition, he has only ever seen one other person with dwarfism in Athens. Being the only people with the condition can make going out in public difficult at times.
âPeople in grocery stores like just stare at me as I walk by,â Deslatte said. âKids, they just stop and they just like look at me and my mom. Sometimes I hate it, sometimes I make faces at them,â Deslatte said.
Deslatte has a cross between multiple epiphyseal dysplasia and pseudoachondroplasia, a combination of growth-restrictive conditions that has run in his family for four generations.
âIt began with Troyâs paternal great-grandfather and has been passed down to at least one child in each generation since then,â Powell said. âDwarfism is very unique based on each person, so the challenges I experience medically are different in many ways than those Troy will experience.â
Other than his height, Deslatteâs condition also comes with medical implications. His knees bent at an angle since childhood, and in second grade, he underwent surgery to correct this. The surgery was largely ineffective, so doctors operated on his legs again over the summer after his sixth grade year. The procedure mainly focused on his left leg, which was worse than the right.
âThey actually went in there and cut the bone and twisted it, and I had a full leg cast all summer. And whatâs funny is that was supposed to fix it, but it didnât. It actually made it a lot worse,â Deslatte said.
Along with the ongoing medical procedures, there are other things that Deslatteâs body cannot do that average-height bodies can. His joints are sensitive and he is unable to stand for more than several minutes without his legs hurting. For this reason, he has started wearing a knee brace.
âSome people just think, âOh, heâs just short. Thatâs it. Thatâs all that it does.â Thereâs a lot more to it than just that,â Deslatte said. âIf we weâre walking Downtown with some friends or whatever, they can walk all of Downtown and be just fine. But Iâm sitting there after like two or three streets and my legs are in pain, theyâre on fire, I want to sit down and theyâre not stopping.â
This year, Deslatte has started exercising regularly in the body sculpting class at Clarke Central High School and the Crunch Fitness gym in Athens. Though physical fitness is important for everyone, it is crucial for maintaining his joint strength.
âHaving dwarfism limits the amount of activity I can do, so weight lifting is a really good one because it doesnât require getting hurt if you know how to do it properly,â Deslatte said. âAnd itâs nice when you go home, you take off your shirt and thereâs a six pack there.â
But Deslatteâs dwarfism is not what defines him. In fact, a major part of his identity is his love for theater and his dream to be an actor.
âIâve kind of always wanted to do that since I was like a little, little kid. Well, littler,â Deslatte said. âSixth grade was when I did my first show and I got like this side role. It was a dumb little kidâs show. It was called âKing Arty and the Knights of the Rad Table.â Looking back on it now it was kind of dumb, but it was cool for the first experience I had had.â
In his three years at CCHS, Deslatte has acted in the drama departmentâs productions of âThe Lottery,â âCabaretâ and âNoises Off.â He has also performed as the lead character Shrek in âShrek the Musicalâ at the Athens Little Playhouse Childrenâs Theatre. He is currently the Vice President of the CCHS Drama Club.
âHe is clearly passionate about drama because he does it outside of school as well as inside,â senior and Drama Club President Isabelle Germain said.
Clarke Central High School junior Troy Deslatte reads play lines with senior Derek Mueller. Deslatte has been in several school productions and enjoys performing. âI like being (at CCHS) and doing the way bigger shows, and doing shows with other community theaters around,â Deslatte said. âItâs pretty cool and opening my eyes up more for stuff.â Photo by Julie Alpaugh.
Many other drama students agree Deslatteâs acting abilities are unaffected by his physical condition. Although his legs hurt during long scenes, he takes ibuprofen before performing and powers through.
âHe can act, and he has a good British accent for some stuff,â junior and fellow actor Mea Melnik said. âHe just does it and goes for it, and then does it good. And nobody ever says anything.â
Deslatte says his inspiration is âGame of Thronesâ actor Peter Dinklage who, among other famous actors of short stature, has found success in the acting industry.
âPeter Dinklage is kind of what I want to be. Actually, no, heâs exactly what I want to be,â Deslatte said. âAnd itâs cool to see someone with dwarfism in that field because itâs crazy competitive. Because sometimes the movie parts, they judge you based on your height. And so if you have dwarfism and youâre wanting to go for the main role, thereâs a very good chance they wonât pick you,â Deslatte said.
Powell supports her sonâs aspirations, citing Dinklage, as well as actor Warwick Davis, as proof that people with dwarfism can be well-respected actors.
âMany little people have paved the way in the film industry for actors like Peter Dinklage to rise to the top in this profession. I fully support Troy in pursuing this as his profession,â Powell said. âThere is a place for people of short stature in the industry. And itâs not just playing elves and leprechauns and other ânon-humanâ roles.â
Deslatte is prepared to work for the career he wants. He is considering starting a YouTube channel this summer as a free way entertain publicly. âA lot of YouTubers actually become actors,â Deslatte said. âTheyâre not big name actors, but they become actors, and I feel like if I did that, I could work my way up. Because thereâs also Dylan OâBrien, who started off making ridiculous videos on YouTube, and now heâs a huge actor.â
Deslatte plans to hold off on college and move to California after of high school. His overall goal is to act in movies and TV.
âSometimes, people forget the people that dwarfs are humans, too. Sometimes, they treat us like thereâs something wrong with us so they just push us aside,â Deslatte said. âI want to be kind of like Peter Dinklage just to be able to show that, âHey, I can do this.â Just because Iâm shorter than the average person and look different and have a disability doesnât mean I still canât do this.â